The Gender Debate: Some Hypotheticals

A “cisgender” person: someone whose sense of their own gender identity corresponds to the gender that they are assigned.Think about the following scenario in terms of three students going through their day: a non cisgender student, a cisgender bo and a cisgender girl.You walk across campus and everyone who passes you makes a split-second assumption as to what genitals you have. They use this to decide how to smile at you.You are studying on the second floor of the library. Which bathroom do you want to go in? Do you have to climb stairs to get to it? Will people stare?You walk into the dorm. Are you welcomed or barred?You are hanging in your friend’s room. Can you stay past eight? Are you allowed to close the door as you have a heart-to-heart with your friend?You are doing homework with your friends on the quad. The sun is beating down. Can you take your shirt off?You stay after class to talk to your teacher. Can you close the door?You are at EP. Rev says welcome to evening prayer. Do you lift your arm over your date?You walk into Grill. When you sit down, do you cross your legs or spread them wide? How much room are you allowed?Walking on Main Street, you see a mother walking with her three year- old child. Are you seen as a threat if you stop and coo?You meet a man at the door to Grill. Does he hold the door for you and make eye contact or does he ignore you?When you talk about computer science, are you “in over your head” or are you “mansplaining?”It’s seven o’clock on a Tuesday night in Club Room A. You are at a GSA meeting. Do people think you’re a faghag or fruity?What does this mean?Cisgender or not, everyone is restricted by having to fit into one of two rigid social categories.